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SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is nearing a deal with Time Warner Cable to give subscribers of the cable
television service access to channels via Apple TV, people with knowledge of the negotiations
said.

The companies plan to announce an agreement within a few months, said the people, who asked not
to be identified because the talks are private. The iPhone maker also is hiring Pete Distad from
the online-video service Hulu — where he was senior vice president in charge of marketing and
distribution — to help Apple executives in negotiations with media and cable companies, two people
with familiar with the matter said.

A deal with Time Warner Cable would be a first with a cable company for Apple, which said last
month that it’s also adding content from HBO and ESPN. Apple is aiming to bolster sales of the $99
set-top box amid competition from Roku Inc.’s device and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox. Meanwhile, media
and service providers have been seeking more outlets to deliver shows to customers, who are opting
for on-demand viewing and watching fewer scheduled shows.

“It’s not necessary for Apple to remake the media industry to sell a great TV product,” Benedict
Evans, an analyst at Enders Analysis in London, said in an interview. “They are methodically adding
to Apple TV.”

The potential deal with Time Warner Cable shows Apple working within the existing pay-TV
business model, rather than directly offering live TV programming. Media companies have been
reluctant to sell content directly to online services because it could harm sales from cable and
satellite operators.

Apple’s approach to TV differs from that of Intel Corp., which is negotiating with media
companies to build an Internet-based service that would compete more directly with cable and
satellite companies.

Time Warner Cable has struck similar deals to make programming available through Roku’s online
TV device and the Xbox gaming console. The second-largest U.S. cable provider also said last month
it would start making programming available for some televisions made by Samsung Electronics Co. It
also makes channels available for the iPhone, iPad and mobile devices running Google’s Android
operating system through its application called TWC TV.

“We don’t have an agreement with them at this time,” Susan Leepson, a spokeswoman for Time
Warner Cable, wrote in an email. She declined further comment. Meredith Kendall, a spokeswoman for
Los Angeles-based Hulu, declined to comment. A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has been a vocal supporter of giving up control of the user
interface to other companies if it gives paying subscribers a better TV-viewing experience. While
Time Warner Cable is introducing its own new TV guide this year, Britt has said the company should
give its customers the choice of other guides if they’re superior.

“We think that allowing people to get the very best experience is key competitively,” Britt said
in August. “As long as they buy video from us, I don’t really care.”

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in May that more than 13 million Apple TVs have been sold since the
device was released in 2007. Television is an area of “intense interest” to Apple, Cook said.

“When you look at the TV experience, it’s not an experience that I think very many people love,”
Cook said at the D: All Things Digital technology conference. “It’s not one that has been brought
up to date for this decade. It’s still an experience much like 10 years ago or 20 years ago.”